Day 19 of the Hostage Crisis!

I've had a meter for a few days now, and it is giving me readings of around 194 in the morning, maybe 207 before lunch, 190's again before bed.

I've been good, no fast food, no pop, fruit juices, sugary drinks, haven't touched the salt shaker, all multi grain & wheat everything.Picking up sugar free versions of things as we go. Maybe a cup of coffee in the AM, otherwise now its mainly tea, water, crystal light, I average 1 beer a week maybe, less over the course of the year. (my pattern for the last 25 years or more)

Maybe 3 times I got shakey and had 2 minature snickers which solved the problem. and I had a couple necco hearts. A sliver of a brownie a couple times as snack, No other chocolate, eaten 3 meals a day plus snacks. More veggies and fruit then you can shake a stick at. Nuts, flax seed in the appropriate places, fish, which is fine because I like it,

We have always cooked a lot at home, but I have not had 3 meals in a day plus snacks for 19 days in a row in my life.

One day it will stop snowing and I can get outside more, we've only had a couple good days in the past 3 weeks to get outside and work in the yard. Still trying to get my head wrapped around an exercize routine that will work for me.

Metaformin 2xq 500mg and Actos 15mg 1xq plus my vitamins. I start everyday with Metamucil before breakfast which helps me get through the morning till lunch.

I think I'm doing a lot of things that are good for me, haven't got the carb thing down of course but I think I understand why my GP did not want me to get a meter yet until the meds kicked in and I had a month to make some changes in diet etc.

I think I carbed out once after lunch, and I've found that when I get muscle aches that a glass of fiber works better than a Tylenol.

3 weeks ago a bag of chips and dip with 2 pitchers of kool aid or pop was the regular snack, Candy, cookies, all that stuff was the norm.

I did not expect readings to be normal, but I did not expect them to be 200 consistently in light of how good I feel. BP is down though consistently to about 120/80 My energy levels are great, I'm sleeping almost all night lots of other positives. I think I'm on the right track.

6 replies

Dave, you are on the right track. Its going to take time to stabelize. The reason your dr didnt want you to have a meter at first was because he knew you would have high readings and he didnt want to depress you. Its depressing enough to do all you can do right and still not see results that you expect. It takes time. you will learn portion control. The reason they have you log everything is so you can go back and see what works and what doesnt. Not eveyone is the same. What works for me, might not work for you and vise versa. keep a daily log of what you eat. what your numbers are. what you exersize and what you feel. Log your emotions and then go back and look at it a month later. It will be a fountain of information. The first month seems the hardest. Then things should/might start to get better, then you might start to let down your gaurd and might not take that pill at the right time. If you are still logging, you will be able to see what missing that pill did to your Blood sugar numbers. Like I said, congrats, you are on the right track. dont sweat the small stuff. Keep the long road ahead of you in focus. And its ok to error and get a reading you dont expect, dont let that get you down. Just do what it takes to fix it. Then get on with life. I beleive that all food is ok for us to eat in the right portions. I myself love chocolate and eat one mini reese penut butter cup eveyday. Its my chocolate fix for the day. When you stableize, pick out one item that you love. Reward yourself with a bit of it every day. hope this helps. Remember, we are human. We are not machines. Dont be harder on yourself than you need to be.

Hi Sarg, I appreciate the feedback, yes the numbers could be a downer, if it had not been for the forums and being able to read about others experiences I would have definately been in the dumps.

I don't know how folks manage when they are completely isolated and have to rely 100% on their GP.

If the first month is the hardest I feel golden, I have not felt this good for a long time, I'm getting more done, am excited about summer, the depression is gone, yesterday I had a reading of 143 in the afternoon.

I tried the sugar free peanut butter cups don't think I'm going to buy another bag. Lets see, my reward treat would have been a half a pound of Jelly Belly Beans a month ago, I'll probably have to settle for less now :^)

Dave - sounds like you are at the same level I am - diagnosed 3 weeks ago, taking Glucophage, bs twice a day - still have average readings of around 160 although I went to Applebees with a friend yesterday and thought my bs was going to be through the roof because of all we ate (surprisingly when I think about it not a lot of carbs tho…) and when I tested 2 hours later it was 125. Not perfect but my second lowest reading in 3 weeks! I too am waiting for the warmer weather to start doing some gardening and such and was feeling pretty good until I got hubby's nasty cold - feel like doo-doo. Had more energy, was sleeping better etc. AND I too am having trouble with the 3 meals plus snacks thing…I guess it's something we all go through - there is no "model" diabetic cuz we are all so different! Good luck and keep me posted!

I'm not used to eating so often through out the day, and trying to portion. I think if I had some of the highs and lows that you are getting I'd feel like a normal LOL diabetic.

now that sounds funny, I guess the spikes and lows would help me see how different foods are affecting me, a 10 point spread doesn't do that. The medication really has not had enough time to work, maybe another week or two and I'll see some differences.

Can't wait to work on the garden, I'll be putting in some other veggies and putting up more this year. I'm the one that does the canning so everyone else will have to deal with my new recipes.

I am putting in a garden again this year too - in the past I have canned peppers, salsa, zucchini, pickles. It's fun and I have people ask me all the time for my recipes… I usually plant tomatoes, peppers, cukes, zucchini, yellow squash, cilantro and this year I am thinking of putting in pole beans…LOVE those fresh beans!! I am still waiting for my meds to kick in and trying to adjust the foods and portions but I am one hell of a cook and everything I make comes out so darn delicious…excuses excuses I know - I should be cooking more healthful stuff…it's a long process to learn how to deal with this, isn't it?

I'm reading everything I can lay my hands on, or computer on, I do the canning in the family, my wife is the baker and we both cook a lot.

We keep a pretty well stocked pantry but I'm going to have to do some adjustments to make sure we have the right ingredients. I feel lucky in that I like fish much more then my wife and have an excuse to cook more of it now.

Same with a lot of the other foods that are good for a diabetic diet. I can see now that I'll have to put up much more then we have in the past and to also rebuild the herb garden.